Process of producing ethylene



M. C. WHITAKER AND A. A. BACKHAUS. PROCESS 0F PRODUCING ETHYLENE.APPLICATION man JuLY11,19199 1,42 1,640. Patented July 4, 1922.l

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UNHED STATES maar carica.

MILTON C. WHITAKER, OF NEWYORK, Y., AND ARTHUR A. BACKHAUS, 0F BALTI-MORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNORS T0 U. S. INDUSTRIAL ALCOHOL CO., A CORPORA-TION 0F WEST VIRGINIA.

Paocnss or PnonUcING ETHYLENE.

Application led July 11,

State of New York, and ARTHUR A. BACK HAUS, a citizen of the UnitedState's, resid-YV ing at Baltimore andState of Maryland, have invented acertain new and useful Improvement in Processes of Producing lEthylene,of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates particularly to a method of making ethylene by theuse of a catalytic agent.

The object of our invention is to provide a process by means,` of whichethylene may be made catalytically and in an expeditious and economicalmanner.

Another object of our invention is to provide an advantageous rocess ofmaking ethylene from ethyl alcolhol A further object of our invention isto provide a process by means of which ethylene may be produced fromethyl alcohol in such a way as to obtain the maximum 'yield with theutilization of a minimum amount of heat.-

Again another object of our invention, is to carry out the process insuch a manner as to completely separate the ethylene from the unchangedalcohol.

Still another object is to preheat the alcohol, so as to avoid thepresence of li uid" alcohol in the chamber where the cata yst islocated, in order to avoid loss of the catalyst by the formation ofethyl esters of phosphoric acid.

Further objects of our invention will appear from the detaileddescription thereof contained hereinafter.

While our invention 'is capable of embodi-y ment in many differentforms, for the purpose of illustration we shall describe only one way ofcarrying out our process hereinafter, and while it is capable of beingcarried out in connection with many different types of apparatus, wehave shown only one type of apparatus for use in connection therewith inthe accompanying drawing, in which:

The figure is a diagrammatic elevation of an apparatus made inaccordance with our invention.

In the drawings, we have shown a pipe 1 adapted to conduct hot gases,which may be Specication of Letters Patent.

a`V quantity of comminu'tedzcoke or Patented July 4, 1922. i919.l serialNq. 310,123.

heated gases derived from any source, as forexample from an oven orfurnace, said heated gases being conducted by the pipe 1 to a furnaceorreaction chamber 2having removable top and bottom plates-3 and 4. Thefurnace 2 is provided with 'a plurality of vertical tubes 5 supportedbyk vtwo transversey perforated plates 6 and y7 and .carrying within thetubes a catalyst adapted to form ethylene from alcoh0l. Theethylene-forming catalytic material maybe comprised of umicestonecarrying vphosphoric acid sP04), or finstead, if desired, carryingfinely divided aluminum oxide or kaolin. Preferably the tubes are lledwith comminuted coke and the phosphoric acid is then poured into thetubes so as to be absorbed by the' comminuted material in the tubes,although it may be made in any other desired manner. The hot ases afterpassing around the tubes 5, leave t e furnace 2 by a pipe 8, and thencepass into anddownwardly within an alcohol preheater 9 through aplurality of tubes 10 therein, supported by perforated plates 11 and 12,after which the hot gases are conveyed away by a stack 13. The alcoholis v fed to the apparatus from an alcohol supply tank 14 by means of avalved trapped p1pe 15 to the alcohol preheater 9, within the ascendingalcohol 1s immediately converted into a vapor which passes from thereheater 9 by a pipe 16 to the lower end ofp the 'furnace 2. The alcoholvapors are conducted upwardly through the tubes 5 in the furnace 2,where the alcohol is converted to a very large extent into ethylene andwater. The vapors of ethylene, alcohol and water leave the top of thefurnace 2 by means of a pipe 17, andare conducted to a column heater 18where they serve to heat a body of water to provide steam for a column19, the excess water from which is allowed to continually ow away by apipe 20"\connected tothe heater, and which leads to a discharge pipe 21delivering into a funnel 22, whence the water may be conveyed away toany point of-disposal. (A pipe 23 equalizes the pressures in the pipe 20and the heater 18. The

heater 18 is comprised of a plurality of tubesv. containedin the pans insaid column becomes tubes 26 supported by perforated plates'27 and 27atherein, around whichv the vapors low. The condenser serves, the purposeof removing the major portion of the alcohol and water from theethylene, so that the alcohol may be returned to the system while warm.From this Point, the vapors pass by collected and utilized in anydesired manner.V

The alcohol and water containing a. very little ethylene are returned bypipes 31 and 32 from the condensers 28 and 25 respectively to the column19. As the vapors -pass upwardly through the column 19, the liquidincreasin l richer in alcohol, and from the top of sai column thealcohol is fed by a pipe 33 to the alcohol preheater 9. 'The gases andvapors which reach the top of the column 19 pass out of the same by apipe 34, and thence into a hotcondenser 35 having a plurality of tubes36 supported by perforated plates 37 and 38, from which point the Acondensed alcohol is conveyed by a pipe 39 to the top of the column 19,so as to provide liquidv for sealing the pans in said column.

-From the hot condenser 35 the gases and vapors passing out of the sameare conducted by a pipe 40 to a cold condenser 41 havin a plurality oftubes 42 supported by per orated p ates 43 and 44,while the residualgases and vapors vnot condensed -therein are conveyed away by a pipe 45to the pipe 27". The condensate vfrom the condenser 41 is conveyed b apipe 46 tothe pipe 39, and

thence toit e top of the column 19. The

condensers 28 and'25, and 41 and 35, may

' maintained at thedesired temperatures 1n any suitable manner. Forexample, the

condensers-28 and 25 may be cooled by a cur-v rent of water passinthrough pipes 47, 48 and 49, and 'the-con ensers 41 .and 354 may becooled by a current of cold waterpassing 'through pipes 50,v 51 and 52.

In carrying out our invention by the means above described, alcohol issupplied from the A tank, 14 through the preheater 9 maintained at atemperature of from 300 to 500 C., and vto the furnace 2 which is alsomaintained at a temperature of from 300 to 700 C. where the alcoholvapors formed in the preheater 9 are changed 1n part to ethylene andwater by contact with the phosphoric acid or other catalyst present inthe furnace 2. From this point the vapors of ethylene, alcohol and waterpass to the column heater 18 where they serve to'provide steam for. thealcohol concentrating column 19.- The ethylene, alcohol and watervaporspass from the col.

umn heater 18 to the hot and cold condensers 25 and 28, whence thecondensed alcohol and water containing a little ethyl ene is conveyedback to the column 19, While the eluent ethylene passesout of thecondenser 28 in the form of a` gas, and may be collected and used in'any desired manner. The concentrated alcohol produced in the column 19is fed therefrom to the preheater 9. Alcohol to fill the pans of thecolumn 19 is supplied to the column by pipes 39 and 46 leading from thecondensers 35 and 41 through which the vapors from the top'of the column1-9 pass, and from which condensers any quantity of ethylene present isconveyed awayto the condenser 28 where any remaining percentage ofalcohol and water is removed from the ethylene, and the ethylene becomesadded to the main body thereof, so that all of the ethylene is thusrecovered at the outlet end of the condenser 28 separated from thealcohol and water.

In this manner the ethylene is recovered after the alcohol and waterhavebeen entirely separated therefrom, while .at the same time the heat ofthe various compounds present is utilized throughout the operation ofthe apparatus, andl in such a manner that the apparatus may be operatedcontinuously. Furthermore, the catalyst is utilized to the bestadvantageas the formation of ethyl compounds thereof is avoided.

While we have described our invention abovein detail, we wish it tobeunderstood that many changes may be made therein without departing.from the spirit thereof.

We claim- 1. The process of manufacturing ethylene n from1 alcoholcomprising preheating the alcohol to a temperature of Afrom 300 to 500C., and passing the resulting vapors of alcohol through a catalyzermaintained. at a similar temperature in orderto form ethylene. Y Y

2. The rocess of manufacturing ethylene from alcoliol comprisingpreheating the alcohol to a temperature of from 300 to 500 C., passingtherresulting vapors through a catalyzer maintained at a similarr`temperaturein order to'form ethylene, condensing out the water andalcohol from the resulting ethylene vapors, conducting the condensedalcohol to a column still to be rectilied, and returning the rectiedalcohol to the preheater. A

3. The process of manufacturing ethylene from alcohol comprisingpreheating alcohol to a temperature of from 300 to 500 C., and passingthe resulting vapors through a phosphoric acid catalyzer maintained at asimilar temperature in order to form ethylene.

-4. The process of manufacturing ethylene from alcohol comprisingpreheating alcohol to a temperature of from 300 to 500 C., passing theresulting vapors "through a catai lyzer maintained at a similartemperature in order to form ethylene, condensing out the water andalcohol from vthe resulting ethylene vapors, conducting the `condensedalcohl into a column still to be rectified, removing the rectifiedalcohol from a point above the point of introduction of the con-

